Scottish Lockdown: Arrested and fined at an Edinburgh rally

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This week, I went to Edinburgh to meet a number of victims of overzealous lockdown policing. Whilst there, I visited a rally with one of the victims of the over-enforcement of these recently imposed lockdown regulations.

I witnessed firsthand the heavy-handed policing and attitude of the Scottish government towards dissenters. Despite identifying ourselves as press, my cameraman and I were physically pushed back by the police, told to move away from the march and blocked from filming arrests.

The police expressed no willingness to allow the press to cover the story freely, and they used the pretence of ‘social distancing’ to justify this.

One thing was clear: protest and dissent will not be accepted in Lockdown Scotland. Anyone who attends a rally is risking arrest, fines or worse. The police presence outnumbered protesters by around three to one, a totally disproportionate number of officers for a peaceful protest.

In the past, these protests have been largely characterised by doctors and epidemiologists speaking to the crowd, giving the other side of the story in a scientific and academic manner. These are not demagogues whipping up riots, they are anodyne academics speaking to people who are interested in what they have to say. Yet the Scottish government will not permit this, and seems to be enforcing monolithic thought on its citizens.

You can see the scenes from the march in the video above, where two people were arrested. We are now in communication with those two individuals, as well as others who have been arrested, fined and threatened with prison sentences at previous marches.

We are doing everything we can to help those unduly arrested and fined, not just in Scotland but across the U.K.

You can chip in to help us pay their legal costs at FightTheFines.co.uk.